


New Developments

by Way_too_involved



Series: Langst Prompts [8]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cuban Lance (Voltron), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Hurt Lance (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) Has Anxiety, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Orphan Keith (Voltron), POV Keith (Voltron), POV Lance (Voltron), Post-Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-06-12 02:09:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15329376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Way_too_involved/pseuds/Way_too_involved
Summary: “I never asked to take over as the leader, you know!!” Keith yelled at Lance. “It was Shiro’s decision and he’s GONE!”“We are not all YOU, KEITH! I don’t know if you noticed but there are more people than just you on this team. Shiro’s disappearance hit all of us. Open your damn eyes and look around you! Dios, we are your teammates, your friends, not your pet soldiers. Today’s session is done.” He turned and left with that."or Keith is trying to become a leader while being blind to what is actually happening around him.(Established Klance)





	New Developments

Keith was used to people abandoning him by this point, but the same person twice in a row was just a cruel joke from the universe.

His relationship with lance was thriving but the sense of familial closeness lacked in an unbearable way without Shiro. He was the closest thing he had to an older brother or even a father. He mentored him for years, taking him under his wing in the journey that is… life.

Finding him all those months ago in Garrison’s captivity after he crash-landed was a saving grace for the orphan boy. That small shred of familiarity he was given back subconsciously saved his life and kept him from falling apart after they were blasted off into space. A shred he lost again.

His and Lance’s relationship was still in its honeymoon phase when it all happened. That phase where you lay next to each other and whisper sweet nothings to remind each other that you are both here and that this tender moment was actually happening. Shiro’s disappearance ruined all that for Keith. He couldn’t afford to lie down, to not do anything that could get him closer to the Black Paladin.

Shiro said to take the lead if something was to happen to him but he couldn’t help but feel like he made a mistake trusting Keith with all of this. After the whole thing with the Black Lion, he had two paladins with new Lions and another two that didn’t know the first thing about combat. Keith was in over his head.

The new Black paladin spoke with Coran to give him the training records of the Paladins of Old to try it with the team. He set the training deck to the required settings and started the workout. Allura was to go first followed by Hunk then Pidge and ending with Lance. Each of their strengths and weaknesses were taken into consideration and Keith couldn’t help but feel slight pride in his work.

Overworking himself was his coping mechanism, he already knew it was bad but he couldn’t think about that right now. He did it back on earth when Shiro first disappeared with the weird energy and drawings in the cave, which later turned out to be super important and now he was doing it again with training exercises and trying to move forward.

He hadn’t seen much of the team outside of training due to him holing himself in the gym or the training deck. Keith needed to be better for the sake of the team, for the sake of finding Shiro again and for the sake of distracting himself, something not even Lance had been able to do… He just thought about it too much and he needed that intoxicating rush of adrenaline.

By the end of the first week of their new training schedule Hunk seemed like he had dead weights on his punches while he dodged the oncoming punches clumsily instead of the usual calculated precision. Allura’s moves were sluggish and too slow which was shocking considering she was their best fighter.

Lance was slightly better aiming/shooting wise but horrible in hand-to-hand combat, a note Keith didn’t spare from Lance as he kept repeating it all throughout his turn to remind him to get better. But the ex-Blue Paladin barely entered the training deck to train and it was showing in his hand-to-hand combat, being the only trope he was lacking in.

Today’s training was going fine. Everyone was doing their parts and Keith was giving pointers like he usually did, Coran was at the controls and whoever finished or were waiting for their designated session were doing light cardio on the sides.

By the time it was Pidge’s turn Keith was running out of temper to spare.

“Pidge! It’s like you are not even trying. You don’t duck the minute you think there might be a punch, you try to counter it.” Keith said in a rather stern way, but it was all for good reason. “Do what I’ve been telling you for the past week: Use. Your. Size.”

He walked closer to the bot and demonstrated the move he wanted and how he wanted it. He needed her to be ready for anything, why can’t she see that?

“Hey man, we get what you want but can you just calm down for a sec?” Hunk surprisingly said. He was wearing a training shirt with what looked like basketball shorts, and was also sweating buckets. His training today was weights and Keith tried to get him to push his body limits as much as possible for a better result. “She is trying to do what you are saying, can’t you see that?”

“Not really. All I see is weakness that could be exploited by our enemies in times of actual battle. She is already the smallest Paladin she can’t afford to be the weakest one too. She won’t make it.”

“What the hell DID YOU JUST SAY!?” A voice boomed from across the training deck. Lance came charging at him with inhuman speed, the sweat and flush on his face making him look scarier than usual. The fire in his eyes burned brighter than Keith had ever seen.

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way, Lance.” He visibly sighed and made eye contact with Lance, regretting it almost immediately but held it for a few more minutes anyways. “All I am saying is that she needs to train more. You all do!”

“But we are training.” Hunk voiced out. Lance was fuming and looked like he had a lot to say but kept it in for everyone’s sake. Keith didn’t understand the reactions he was receiving; he was doing this for them all get better. This was war, not a playground fight.

“Not nearly well enough.” Keith shrugged. “Your level is close to pathetic and we all won’t survive the next battle at this rate.”

“Fuck you Keith we are all tired here, look around you we are all working our asses off” Lance threw his arms up dramatically.

“Not you.”

Pin drop silence.

And it may have been the fact that he didn’t expect this person to ever do this to any member of his team or the fact that his brain was racing too much to comprehend reality but the next thing Keith knew he was on the floor and his nose was dripping blood from the force of being decked in the face by _Lance_.

“We are all tired and worn out.” Hunk said. He had a hand on Lance’s shoulder, probably to keep him in check. “We have been training non-stop for the past week while dealing with a lot of issues on our own. Don’t think for one second you are the only one here who has been overworking themselves.”

Keith turned to the Yellow Paladin and stared. “I know that, I just think that right now the most important thing for us to do is to train. I am the leader according to Shiro and this is what I think is best.”

“ _What you think is best_?! Right, so because Shiro chose you based on his biased judgment we are supposed to follow your lead to our deaths?” Lance narrowed his eyes, holding eye contact with determination. Keith didn’t understand where all this was coming from. “You do get that with how we are training, we won’t need to go to battle to die. You will do so during these training sessions.”

“ _I never asked to take over as the leader, you know!!”_ Keith yelled at Lance. “It was Shiro’s decision and he’s GONE! All I am doing is respecting his wishes and doing what I think is best for the team. We need to train.”

“ **We are not all YOU, KEITH!** WE DON’T TRAIN LIKE COLD HEARTED SOLIDERS!” he took a deep breath before composing himself. “ _I don’t know if you noticed but there are more people than just you on this team_. Shiro’s disappearance hit all of us. Maybe you more than the rest but we are all hurting after losing a friend. Open your damn eyes and look around you! _Dios,_ we are your teammates, your friends, not your pet soldiers. Today’s session is done.” He turned and left with that.

Their relationship was a secret. They didn’t have their friend’s expectations hanging over their necks on how they should treat each other, in private or in public. These new developments after the battle against Zarkon wasn’t really discussed by the lovers, both were choosing to focus on other matters. Keith didn’t tell Lance but it left a sour taste in his mouth thinking the Blue Paladin didn’t take all of this seriously, despite Lance making his insecurities pretty clear after their first few nights spent together, that he doesn’t want to disappoint anyone.

But at this moment, he wished they told the team of their new found closeness so Hunk or Pidge could punch Keith for what just happened.

* * *

 

Lance understood stress. He had anxiety for fuck’s sake.

What Keith was displaying, though, was getting out of hand on so many levels; it didn’t just affect him, it affected the whole team. He stalked Keith in the training room and saw his hopeless haunting look when he thought no one was watching. The small tremors that overtook his body when he overthought about a certain plan or when someone fucked up a training session; Keith was terrified that whatever happened to Shiro would happen to one of them too.

But what Keith failed to see was that everyone else was terrified too.

Lance had spent the better half of his time making sure everyone was healthy. Pidge over worked herself to an extent that he knew she won’t sleep if not reminded so he took her laptop from her when it was time for bed. He had his fair share of run-ins with the other paladins at night after being woken by a nightmare, another reason why **he** didn’t sleep in the first place, so to say the least: he saw first-hand how much everyone was suffering.

Hunk baked every possible recipe he could remember from earth while helping Coran fix a million things around the castle. Both males ran around all day trying to keep themselves busy by any means necessary with Lance going after them trying to get them to eat, drink and sleep. Allura’s situation was a bit tricky because she didn’t take him as seriously as the others, at first, so he had to get creative with getting her to take care of herself. And it all worked.

Taking care of everyone was so much work that he knew he was forgetting himself but the smile he would sometimes receive from Pidge when she wakes up from a long uninterrupted nap or from Hunk when he talks and lets out everything bothering him and Lance listens to him or from Allura when he helps her after reaching a supposedly dead-end in her planning by giving her a fresh point of view on things was way more than worth it in his books.

After leaving the training deck he goes to the Red Hanger to seek some comfort, he would’ve gone to Blue but Lance wasn’t over the rejection yet. As he reached the hanger door, he tiptoed to the Lion’s jaw to get into the cockpit but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned to find Coran smiling sadly at Lance.

“How are you, my boy?”

“I’m okay, Coran, just tired from training.”

“You know that we appreciate all that you’ve been doing to us these past few days.” Lance looked at Coran and found sincerity but he couldn’t get himself to believe him. Not completely.

“Keith seems to think otherwise.”

“You don’t know that, lad. He is just tired.”

Lance gave him a confirmation hum before he turned to leave, the hanger suddenly a few degrees colder than before. Exhaustion seeping into his soul more by the second; he was so tired. His vision started blurring the minute he caught sight of his bed. He locked the door, took off his training clothes and got under the covers and let the world turn black without interruption.

* * *

 

Coran walked into the training deck ready to kill someone and Keith almost had an idea why.

“I will make it up to everyone later.” He grumbled as he punched another bot, killing it in an instant.

“You will make it up to Lance _this very second_.” Coran’s gentle tone discarded for a hostile one that sent shivers down Keith back. Coran stalked up to him and stood mere inches away from his face while jabbing a finger in his chest. “You have no idea what that boy has been doing to everyone here and you need to start taking notes.” He said with a final jab and left.

_What Lance has been doing?_

Keith hasn’t seen much of Lance, but then again he hasn’t seen much of anyone. Pidge was always on her laptop while Hunk was always in the Kitchen. He helped Allura sometimes with strategy but didn’t talk to her otherwise. And Coran was Coran…

He ended the simulation and walked out the deck determine to find answers. He passed the kitchen and heard a voice that he later identified as Pidge.

“-too tired.” She finished.

“Yeah… those eyes bags are getting worse. We need to help him find himself again.” Allura conversed. He didn’t know the girls talked outside of missions, let alone about other members. He always assumed everyone was busy doing their own things between missions, like he did. “Keith had no right to disregard his hard work like this.”

Hard work?

“Yeah he’s been too down lately and he’s not talking to anyone about it.” Hunk was there too? The ringing sound of a tray set on the table. “He doesn’t come to me anymore, he hasn’t in a while but before it wasn’t as serious now.”

“Wasn’t he close to Keith before this?” Allura asked. “I thought they were finally getting along.”

“Yeah, me too.” Pidge answered.

Keith couldn’t listen to any more of this. He walked to his room, closed the door and trailed down to the floor with his head on his knees. Hot shame and guilt washed over him as he thought about of Lance. The others even noticed how close they were, he knew they didn’t hide it well but he didn’t think they would notice it to the extent of noting the difference.

He thought of every night he went to train and how the light of the lounge was always on. He assumed it was Pidge or Hunk as Lance took his sleep religiously but he was starting to doubt all his beliefs when it comes to the ex-Blue Paladin these days.

He looked around his room and saw random garments that didn’t belong to him. A shirt here and there, a pair of pants and some socks. He never realised how much he missed Lance and how much the Cuban softened him up that he without him there to go to bed with, he was beginning to suffocate. Lance has been hurting too but, unlike Keith, he was putting all that aside and helping the others.

Keith missed Shiro’s presence immensely at the very moment hating the responsibility he thrusted on his shoulders. He had finally found someone who would like him for who he was… flaws and all. And he ruined it by being a self-absorbed prick. He thought of what Shiro would say at a situation like this and came up blank.

Keith needed to fix this on his own.

* * *

 

Lance heard a knock on his door, yanking him out of dreamless sleep.

He opened the door finding a glass jar at the foot of the door. Lance bent down and lifted it to his face and stared. It was filled with little pieces of paper, all different colours. He opened the lid and took one of the pieces out and read what’s on it.

**_You make me a better person._ **

He tried thinking of everyone’s handwriting and couldn’t think of anyone’s that could match the one on the paper. He blamed it on the fact that no one writes anymore when you can easily type it out.

He took another one.

**_I appreciate everything you do for this team._ **

**_Red couldn’t have chosen a better Paladin_ **

The fourth one however gave him a clue as to who his mystery person was.

**_You remind me I’m still human._ **

Lance thought of a conversation he had with Keith after they returned from the first time they had reached out for the Blade and it ended with Lance comforting a sobbing Keith. He was terrified of being Galra that he opened up for the first time ever about his past and how much Shiro meant to him and how he didn’t want to scare Shiro after what he went through at the hands of Galra. It took Lance literal hours to calm him down and get him to sleep that night. It was also the first time they ever slept together.

A small smile made its way to his lips as he took another paper.

**You are all the better parts of myself.**

He knew Keith was apologizing to what happened but he also knew that if he went to him right now he couldn’t trust his mind to make the right decision, words wise. He went back to bed with the jar in his hand and went through every single one of the papers, his smile growing more by the second. He really liked Keith and he was going to make sure that that boy knows when to relax.


End file.
